Startups & Funding
Greylock caps its new fund at $1.5 billion to stay early-stage
Silicon Valley's Greylock Ventures has raised a $1.5 billion 18th fund, intentionally capping its size to maintain its high-support, early-stage investment model.
On Tuesday, the 61-year-old Silicon Valley firm Greylock Ventures announced it had raised a $1.5 billion 18th fund — 50% higher than its previous $1 billion vehicle from 2023. Partner Saam Motamedi told TechCrunch that Greylock could have easily raised a multiple of that figure, suggesting the partnership chose restraint over the industry norm of ever-larger funds.
Greylock intends to keep its portfolio concentrated. The firm’s 10 partners make only one or two new investments each annually, a pace Motamedi said will produce roughly 25 portfolio companies from the new fund. Motamedi said the firm’s aim is to be the most important partner to the most important entrepreneurs it backs, and that this level of support is only possible by keeping the roster small.
Like its predecessors, the new fund will focus primarily on incubating startups from their earliest days and leading seed and Series A rounds — the initial rounds of venture funding, often before a company has much more than a founding team. This is where Greylock built its reputation: security company Palo Alto Networks launched inside Greylock’s offices 21 years ago, the firm incubated email-security startup Abnormal in 2018 (last valued at $5.1 billion), and it first invested in AI infrastructure startup Baseten’s Series A in 2022; Baseten is now valued at $13 billion.
Motamedi said Greylock also backs later-stage companies it missed early on, and its 17th fund included growth-stage investments in Anthropic, Revolut, and Wiz. Greylock made its first investment in Anthropic during its Series F at a $183 billion valuation — “It’s the largest investment in the firm’s history,” Motamedi said. He estimates that roughly 15% of the new fund will be deployed into later-stage startups, while maintaining that Greylock remains fundamentally an early-stage investor.
Why it matters
Greylock Ventures is intentionally resisting the industry trend of ballooning fund sizes by capping its 18th fund at $1.5 billion, aiming to preserve its high-support, early-stage incubation model even as it could have raised far more.